Got ahold of hard to find Accord rental

Last year I found out how hard it is to rent any Honda car from the major companies. Went from counter to counter at Oakland airport and got no again and again. Maybe 6 months ago I noticed this beautiful '14 Accord EX-L put up for rent through relayrides. Well it's in my garage tonight and for the weekend. It's a sedan 4 cylinder with CVT trans.
We were just standing in the garage staring at the beautiful dark red color. Wow does it look good in my garage (No more boring Silver cars for me!)

How can I not compare it against the Prius, hehe. When I was bringing it home over the San Mateo bridge, the MPG gauge was up near 40 MPG. I went out some more tonight and it seems to have settled into 35.x mpg after 60 miles or so.

The EX-L (which means leather seats) gets Lane Departure Warning and Forward Collision Warning. LDW can be turned off. I drifted over my line and sure enough it beeps like 7 times fast. Any lane change without turn signal will set off LDW too. Don't think I can or should test the FCW.

All the EX Accords and up get a camera in the passenger side mirror. When you flip on the right turn signal, the display shows a wide angle view on passenger side. Very handy. Sometimes rogue cars will zip up the passenger side, but you will see them coming with this. Pushing end of the turn signal button also turns on the camera if you just need to see.

We'll see if we can make it to Monterey tomorrow, but at least up and over 17 to Santa Cruz.

more later

 

Pretty much.

Couples things I've noticed is a wee bit of vibration can feel in driver's seat when sitting at stop light, It's an Accord 4 cyl, not the hybrid. Speaking of driver's seats (what, you think I wouldn't mention), the Accord's is nice and wide. Not sure why that's such a big deal given I'm pretty tall but slim. Funny thing though, Camry has more driver and front passenger legroom than this Accord. Camry is no slouch and I can see why they are selling like madcakes these days.

I think the real strength of the Accord is that it's just really nice to drive: steering in parking lot / low speeds, there a nice feedback / feel to steering, not video game light like some cars.

Not much else to say at this point except the Accord is hanging in a 34.x to 35.x on the MPG gauge. I heard it's pretty accurate.

 

Just got back from driving Accord 4 cyl through 17 mountains to Santa Cruz. Yeah, wow, it's so sure footed and confidence inspiring in turns. It must have a pretty low center of gravity.
And the driver's seat is just crackin' good: Wide and supportive.

Got home and spun the Prius around neighborhood. Poor thing, or I mean poor me. Dayam that seats just sucks, it really does. Woe is me, should have checked it out better years ago.

I'm still pulling for the Camry. Will give it another rent for few days sometime since I built a legrest box just to fit it. But if the seat doesn't satisfy, can't get it.

It would kinda suck to leave the hybrid / alternative world, but it's not the most important thing. Just need a car I like a lot.

btw, Accord in the 33.x mpg and almost 200 miles into tank.

 

Yeah, that too. I just wanted to rent the Accord while it's available. It's only late model I know of for rent. Maybe the owner will not be renting it much longer who knows. I'll change cars when darn good and ready. It's just a car after all.

 

Yes. The Accord sedans ride so much better and are so much more practical than the coupes. Whenever I see a coupe I joke and say 'you're missing a couple doors dude'. No more coupes for me. Don't care for the long side doors, low stance and the cave (backseats) you have to climb into.